Menu
Preps Insider brings you news, opinions and discussion that you can’t find in print. Online, there's room to stretch, trade stories, ask questions - and get the inside stories in real time. We're passionate about our beat. We're opinionated. And we want to hear from you.
Preps on the go
Preps Insider is now on mobile. Point your mobile browser to GameFaceMN.com, or text 'preps' to 79797 to get a link sent to your phone.
Contributors: David La Vaque, John Millea, Michael Rand and Brian Stensaas.
Email them to talk about sports and find them on Twitter.
More Prep Sports headlines
- John Millea's Prep Bowl predictions
- Wittman, Dixon and Kreklow make AVCA first-team
- Keeping focus important for Breck
- Drama is gone as Centennial girls pull together
- Title drought ongoing for southern hockey teams
- Totino-Grace defense faces stiff challenge in Sartell
- Tuesday's prep schedule
- Metro Player of Year: Wayzata's A.J. Tarpley
- High School Chat: Read the replay
- Swimmer defends her two state titles
Home | Sports | Prep Sports | Preps Insider |Preps Insider Archive
John Millea predicts all the football winners
Print this
E-mail this
Del.icio.us
Facebook
DiggBy John Millea
The prediction racket has returned to normal, which means pretty good but not great. I went 14-6 during last week’s section title games, meaning the high horse is safely in the barn for the time being.
I’ll saddle up again, though, for this week’s state quarterfinals. The number of picks grows this week to 24,since I’ll make predictions on all games in all classes. I know; scary, right?
The biggest of the bigs is Eden Prairie vs. Wayzata at the Metrodome. This is a game we’ve been anticipating since the brackets were released, and the winner will be viewed as the frontrunner for the Class 5A state championship. That status is the property of top-ranked and unbeaten Eden Prairie at this point, and I’m picking the Eagles.
The 4A field might be the most balanced of them all, and I like St. Thomas Academy, Sartell, Mankato West and Totino-Grace to win.
In 3A, everybody has been looking forward to another meeting between Glencoe-Silver Lake and DeLaSalle. GSL has defeated the Islanders in the past two Prep Bowls, and I’m not picking against Glencoe this time around.
One of the best rivalries in the state is between Eden Valley-Watkins and Pierz, and they meet once more in the 2A playoffs. EV-W beat Pierz in a Central Minnesota Conference game in Week 3, and I predict that trend will continue.
One of the toughest games on the board is a 1A meeting between Minneota and Barnesville. Both are 11-0 and both are very, very good. An extended session of dart tossing tells me Minneota wins a close one.
In Nine-Man, a familiar name has reappeared. Stephen-Argyle got some revenge last week and beat Kittson County Central, and this week the Storm takes on Orr at the Fargodome. Stephen-Argyle didn’t get to this point only to go home, so my pick is the Storm.
Let the discussion begin!
John Millea is on Twitter at twitter.com/stribjohn
Section finals record: 14-6
Season record: 154-56
State quarterfinal predictions
Class 5A
Cretin-Derham Hall 24, Eastview 17
Brainerd 21, Centennial 20
Lakeville North 27, Mounds View 24
Eden Prairie 20, Wayzata 17
Class 4A
St. Thomas Academy 31, Mahtomedi 20
Sartell 27, Bemidji 14
Mankato West 28, Northfield 18
Totino-Grace 27, Rogers 21
Class 3A
Glencoe-Silver Lake 28, DeLaSalle 21
Pequot Lakes 24, Mora 14
Kasson-Mantorville 28, Waseca 18
New London-Spicer 21, Minneapolis North 14
Class 2A
Luverne 27, Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop 14
Moose Lake-Willow River 31, Hawley 28
Caledonia 24, Waterville-Elysian-Morristown 14
Eden Valley-Watkins 21, Pierz 14
Class 1A
Adrian 27, St. Bernard’s 14
Fosston 24, East Central 21
New Ulm Cathedral 28, Blooming Prairie 18
Minneota 23, Barnesville 21
Nine-Man
Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 27, Verndale 24
Stephen-Argyle 31, Orr 21
Grand Meadow 30, Nicollet 26
Ada-Borup 33, Cromwell 24
Comment on this post | 32 comments | Hide reader comments